"The Farmer Takes a Wife" is remembered as Henry Fonda's film debut. He had previously starred in this story as a Broadway play. Reportedly, when Fonda met this film's director (Victor Fleming) for the first time during pre-production, Fonda asked Fleming why so many scenes featured a woman named Dolly who never said anything. Fonda then showed Fleming a line in the shooting script: "Dan and Molly cross the field. Dolly with them." He didn't know that this refers to a camera's dolly shot!
The film and play are based on a novel by Walter D Edmonds, who specialised in novels about the early history of the United States. Here, we're on the Erie Canal in 1853. For nearly 30 years, the river people have prospered from the canal, which enabled easy transport between New York City and the Great Lakes. But now the railroads are coming, and the river barges may become obsolete...
This film splendidly conveys that transitional moment in history, with only a few historic errors (Amerindians in New York State didn't wear Sioux war bonnets) and a few awkward examples of phony prole dialogue: I doubt that anyone ever actually referred to Utica as "Yoot-ickey".
Fonda and Janet Gaynor give excellent performances, with splendid chemistry between them. Slim Summerville gives an astonishingly nuanced performance, and even perennial scene-chewers Charles Bickford and Jane Withers are good here.
Margaret Hamilton, who was in the Broadway play with Fonda, repeats her stage role here: for once, she portrays a sympathetic character. I never thought I'd describe Hamilton as "pretty", but in this movie -- wearing a frilly gingham frock and an elaborate hairstyle -- she seems almost attractive for once.
SLIGHT SPOILERS. There's one wince-worthy scene in this film (it wasn't in the novel or the play) when the bargees meet touring actor Junius Brutus Booth and his 15-year-old son John Wilkes Booth. The boy reads a newspaper article about a rising politician named Abraham Lincoln, and vows to become just as famous one day. Here's the truth: although Junius Booth toured with his elder son Edwin, younger son John Wilkes was kept home in Virginia ... and this is one reason why, in adulthood, the embittered John Wilkes Booth was inspired to commit the assassination that would make him more famous than his brother and their father.
I also cringed at a scene when Andy Devine calls out to Janet Gaynor and she asks who's there. (Their characters have already met.) Devine had one of the most distinctive (and most annoying) voices in Hollywood, so Gaynor shouldn't have to ask him to identify himself.
My all-time favourite character actress, Eily Malyon, is seen here in a very brief role ... and she actually sings, for perhaps the only time in her long acting career.
There are many delights in this movie; I only regret that this is one more film in which a man must prove his manhood by getting into a brawl. I'll rate 'The Farmer Takes a Wife' 9 out of 10.
The film and play are based on a novel by Walter D Edmonds, who specialised in novels about the early history of the United States. Here, we're on the Erie Canal in 1853. For nearly 30 years, the river people have prospered from the canal, which enabled easy transport between New York City and the Great Lakes. But now the railroads are coming, and the river barges may become obsolete...
This film splendidly conveys that transitional moment in history, with only a few historic errors (Amerindians in New York State didn't wear Sioux war bonnets) and a few awkward examples of phony prole dialogue: I doubt that anyone ever actually referred to Utica as "Yoot-ickey".
Fonda and Janet Gaynor give excellent performances, with splendid chemistry between them. Slim Summerville gives an astonishingly nuanced performance, and even perennial scene-chewers Charles Bickford and Jane Withers are good here.
Margaret Hamilton, who was in the Broadway play with Fonda, repeats her stage role here: for once, she portrays a sympathetic character. I never thought I'd describe Hamilton as "pretty", but in this movie -- wearing a frilly gingham frock and an elaborate hairstyle -- she seems almost attractive for once.
SLIGHT SPOILERS. There's one wince-worthy scene in this film (it wasn't in the novel or the play) when the bargees meet touring actor Junius Brutus Booth and his 15-year-old son John Wilkes Booth. The boy reads a newspaper article about a rising politician named Abraham Lincoln, and vows to become just as famous one day. Here's the truth: although Junius Booth toured with his elder son Edwin, younger son John Wilkes was kept home in Virginia ... and this is one reason why, in adulthood, the embittered John Wilkes Booth was inspired to commit the assassination that would make him more famous than his brother and their father.
I also cringed at a scene when Andy Devine calls out to Janet Gaynor and she asks who's there. (Their characters have already met.) Devine had one of the most distinctive (and most annoying) voices in Hollywood, so Gaynor shouldn't have to ask him to identify himself.
My all-time favourite character actress, Eily Malyon, is seen here in a very brief role ... and she actually sings, for perhaps the only time in her long acting career.
There are many delights in this movie; I only regret that this is one more film in which a man must prove his manhood by getting into a brawl. I'll rate 'The Farmer Takes a Wife' 9 out of 10.